← All monologuesFull work: Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night · William Shakespeare · c. 1602
VIOLA
Shipwrecked, believes her twin brother drowned, currently employed as a young man named Cesario.
The speech151 words · 5 beats
0:00 / 1:24
I left no ring with her; what means this lady?
Fortune forbid my outside have not charm'd her!
She made good view of me, indeed so much
That methought her eyes had lost her tongue,
For she did speak in starts distractedly.
She loves me, sure; the cunning of her passion
Invites me in this churlish messenger.
None of my lord's ring! Why, he sent her none.
Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness
Wherein the pregnant enemy does much.
How easy is it for the proper false
In women's waxen hearts to set their forms!
How will this fadge? My master loves her dearly,
And I, poor monster, fond as much on him,
And she, mistaken, seems to dote on me.
What will become of this?turn
O time, thou must untangle this, not I;
It is too hard a knot for me t'untie.
- Speaking to
- Herself, working it out in real time.
- What just happened
- She was sent to woo Olivia on her master's behalf. Olivia's steward has just chased her down the street to return a ring she never gave.
- Objective
- To find any version of this where nobody gets hurt. There isn't one.
- The turn
- 'How will this fadge?' — she stops diagnosing Olivia and realises she's inside the trap too.
- Watch out for
- Excellent first classical piece: short lines, plain vocabulary, and a genuine puzzle to solve out loud.